All I want for Christmas
by fagur fiskur
Summary: Carlton is working late again. Sometimes he really hates the holiday season. Shassie, fluff.


**All I want for Christmas (is a little peace and quiet)**

Carlton Lassiter did not like the holiday season. For one, it was too commercial for his tastes. It also brought up some bad memories from his marriage and missed dinners and forgotten presents. But mainly it was because it was the busiest time of the year and while that may be all well and good for shop owners, it's tiring and depressing if you're a cop. What was it about Christmas that made people want to kill each other or themselves?

Today they were closing up a particularly gruesome case. Rape and homicide; Carlton really didn't want to think about the details of it. He had been in the station for what felt like forever. His suit was wrinkled and sweaty, his hair was a mess and he thought he might be developing carpal tunnel syndrome from all the writing he had been doing. Worst of all, he had planned on being home hours ago to enjoy a relaxing evening with Shawn, who was being uncharacteristically calm and quiet these days, probably because he knew how the holiday season affected Carlton.

Instead he was stuck in the station, his headache growing every minute and his stomach growling. Which reminded him, he hadn't eaten since lunch. He had sent O'Hara home a long time ago so she could at least have a nice Christmas Eve and he was beginning to regret it. He needed help on this paperwork if he wanted to be done before midnight.

Everything seemed vexing to Carlton in this state. The station was too bright and way too loud (even though most people had gone home by now), his suit was too warm and the tie around his neck was too tight. He felt like curling up in a corner and just going to sleep (although sleeping on the floor would probably be a bad idea in the long run. His back just wasn't as good as it used to be).

So when he saw Shawn walk into the station, helmet clutched in one hand a bag of Chinese takeout in the other, Carlton could have cried. He could literally feel the tension seep out of his shoulders as Shawn spotted him and his face lit up in a familiar smile. The smile reserved exclusively for Carlton.

Shawn walked straight to Carlton's desk, shouting seasons greetings to a few choice people on his way. When he reached his destination he put the helmet down on the desk and held up the take out.

"I come bearing food," he said. "How are you holding up?"

"Better," Carlton answered honestly, with an implied 'now that you're here'.

"Ready to take a break?" Shawn asked.

Carlton sighed heavily. He really, really shouldn't. This paperwork needed to be taken care of tonight, but…

"The paperwork will still be there when you get back," Shawn said, as if reading his mind. "You're pushing yourself way too hard, Lassie. It won't kill you to rest for ten minutes."

Carlton hesitated, then nodded. He could use a break, not to mention some alone time with Shawn. He stood up and the two of them headed to the nearest empty room.

Once inside, Carlton locked and collapsed on the sofa in the corner. Shawn sat down next to him, neither bothering to turn on the light. There were some Christmas lights in the window and that was enough.

Shawn handed Carlton some food and settled with his legs in the older man's lap. Neither of them talked for five minutes. Either Shawn had nothing to say (doubtful) or he knew Carlton was desperate for some peace and quiet. But eventually his nature won out.

"Did you know that in some parts of the world, Christmas Eve is actually more important than Christmas day?" Shawn said in between bites of his egg roll. Carlton just looked at him incredulously. "It's true. If we were in Iceland, you'd be missing Christmas."

"Mhm."

"Although if we wanted to go full Icelandic we'd also have to have ray fish for dinner and that's just gross. Not that it'd be any better than what I cooked. I don't think ham is supposed to be that colour. Or smell like feet."

Carlton chuckled, causing Shawn to smile with some satisfaction. Then the detective noticed something.

"You cooked?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah," Shawn said, obviously sorry for having brought it up. "I thought you might be home earlier and I kind of wanted to surprise you. But it's no big deal," he added. "I screwed it up, so we probably would have gone for Chinese anyway."

Great, now Carlton felt even worse about the late night. It wasn't often Shawn actually put effort into anything, besides sex, but when he did he put everything into it.

Shawn must have seen his shoulders tense up again, because he leaned over and kissed Carlton gently. Worries momentarily forgotten, Carlton responded to the kiss, opening his mouth slightly to run his tongue over Shawn's lower lip. The younger man groaned softly into the kiss and deepened it. They pulled apart reluctantly after a few minutes.

"I should get back to work," Carlton said quietly. Shawn's smile had completely faded away, his expression was disappointed and just a bit sullen, but he nodded nevertheless.

"Will you be home tonight?" It sounded like a question, but Carlton knew it was more of an order.

"Of course," he said. Shawn kissed him one more time.

"Don't come too soon though. I still have to get that smell out of the apartment."

Carlton snorted and although his mind was already back on that pile of unfinished paperwork on his desk, he was happier than he had been all day.

--------------

**I couldn't resist having Shawn mention Iceland. There are just different traditions here and I wanted to include some of them:-) And he's wrong about the ray fish. We eat it on the 23rd, not the 24th.**

Huge thanks to merendiel for betaing.


End file.
